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South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. Two out of every three young people are unemployed; only 4 out of every 100 school leavers finish university; and more than 40 percent of this generation will never work in their lifetime. South Africa–based Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, however, is on a mission to reverse this trend.

As described elsewhere on our site, an equivalency determination (ED) is a written opinion, by a qualified U.S. tax practitioner, that a non-U.S. organization is equivalent to a U.S. public charity. The ED does not make a judgment on the value of the work conducted by the non-U.S. organization or the efficacy of its programs. It is simply an opinion that the organization's purposes and activities align with those required to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity in the U.S.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NGOsource has obtained an outside legal opinion confirming our repository’s alignment with current legal requirements. The opinion both bolsters our existing process and offers advice to ensure continued consistency with Revenue Procedure 2017-53. As always, NGOsource’s EDs reflect best practices through a combination of thoroughness, international legal expertise, and technological innovation.

After her father passed away, Bagamoyo agreed to marry a man she did not want to marry because her relatives told her she would have nowhere to stay if she did not. Bagamoyo started a farm with her husband and eventually opened a shop at home, but she was unable to bear children. After four miscarriages, Bagamoyo's husband brought a new wife home. He told Bagamoyo she could no longer stay with him, so she returned to her parents' home with nothing.

For our first blog post of 2019, we wanted to give you an update on the work that NGOsource's parent organization TechSoup is doing to connect civil society organizations and changemakers to the resources they need for a more equitable planet.

Over the last 30 years, TechSoup has built the largest network of civil society organizations in the world, over 1 million in total. In 2018 alone, TechSoup connected 150,000 NGOs with over $1.9 billion worth of resources, including donated and discounted technology, services, and funding.

As we embark on the start of a new year, many of us at NGOsource are reflecting on the significance of the past year and looking optimistically toward the new year. We're also thinking about how a new year will impact the Equivalency Determination (ED) validity period. The ED validity period, dictated by U.S. tax law, indicates when a private foundation or donor advised fund (a “grantmaker”) can rely on the written advice provided in the ED.

NGOsource supports U.S. grantmakers in streamlining their international grantmaking, but none of our efforts would be possible without our nine global partners located across the world. Each of our global partners works directly with NGOs to help them navigate the equivalency determination (ED) process. By working with our global partners, NGOs gain a better understand specific requirements as well as how NGOsource works.

In earlier posts, we've restated the definition of "charitable" under the U.S. Treasury Regulations, noting that charities in the U.S. must be organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes. Understanding the breadth and nuance of the term “charitable,” as defined under U.S. law, is important for organizations seeking an equivalency determination (ED) through NGOsource.

As further elaborated on NGOsource's website, equivalency determination (ED) is a process dictated by U.S. tax law regulations that permits a U.S. private foundation or donor advised fund to make a "good faith determination" that a non-U.S. organization is the equivalent of a U.S. public charity or operating foundation. As part of the ED process, a qualified tax practitioner collects and analyzes detailed information about a non-U.S. organization's finances, structure, and operations.

Disclaimer: This site provides information to U.S. grantmakers regarding international grantmaking procedures, and should not be construed as a legal service or providing legal advice. As the law differs in each legal jurisdiction and may be applied differently depending on the specific circumstances of each case, the information or use of services on the site should not be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.